16 September 2013

Openings

I'm buried in copy edits for my forthcoming The Berkeley Square Affair, so I thought I would repeat a post from my own blog that deals with the opening of this book and openings in general. Openings are tricky.
One wants to start with something that will grab the reader’s attention.
But what i tend to forget is that even with an action opening,one has
to take the time to set the scene and characters, to give the reader of
sense of who the story is about and what is at stake. This doesn’t
necessarily mean a whole chapter devoted to establishing the characters
and setting. it can be integrated into the action. I originally started Vienna Waltz
with Suzanne walking into the room to find Malcolm kneeling over
Tatiana’s body. then i realized I needed a few paragraphs first to set
up who Suzanne was, how Tatiana had summoned her, and the sort of
marriage Suzanne and Malcolm had. Still later I decided I needed the
Prologue to set up Tatiana and some of the other key characters.

In Imperial Scandal,
Malcolm has a few moments of interaction with La Fleur and Harry before
the shots ring out. And the ambush at the château is intercut with
Suzanne at the embassy ball in Brussels so that (hopefully!) the
suspense of the action sequence balances the talkier scene at the ball.
With The Berkeley Square Affair, set in London in 1817, I once again forgot about the
need to establish the characters and the stakes, even in an ongoing
series. I originally began with a wounded Simon climbing in through the
library window of Malcolm and Suzanne’s Berkeley Square
house. here’s the original opening paragraph, which is still in the
book:

A thud on the window glass cut through the whisky-scented shadows
and candle-warmed air. Charles dropped his book. Mélanie nearly dropped
baby Jessica. Charles sprang to his feet, disrupting Berowne the cat,
and moved to put himself between Mélanie and Jessica and the window.
Mélanie tightened her arms round Jessica. Old defensive instincts sprang
to life, like hairs responding to a shock of electricity. The Berkeley
Square house, still so new, had perhaps never felt so much like home
than now, when it was threatened.Berowne hissed and arched his back. The window scraped
against the sash. Charles snatched up a silver candlestick. Jessica
released Mélanie’s breast and let out a squawk.
“It’s all right.” A slurred, strained voice came from the window. “It’s me.”

I then decided i needed to show what happened to Simon, so I added a scene which begins: The lamplight shone against the cobblestones, washing over the
grime, adding a glow of warmth. Creating an illusion of beauty on a
street that in the merciless light of day would show the scars of
countless carriages, horses, and pedestrians. Much as stage lights could
transform bare boards and canvas flats into a garden in Illyria or a
castle in Denmark.Simon Tanner turned up the collar of his greatcoat as a gust
of wind, unusually sharp for October, cut down the street, followed by a
hail of raindrops. His hand went to his chest. Beneath his greatcoat,
beneath the coat he wore under it, he could feel the solidity of the
package he carried, carefully wrapped in oilskin. Were it not for that
tangible reminder, it would be difficult to believe it was real.

Still more recently, I realized that the reader still didn’t know
enough about Malcolm and Suzanne and what was at stake for them, and
that with the action of the opening with Simon, I could afford a
conversation that set up Malcolm and Suzanne (catching readers of the series
up with where they are at this point, introducing them to new readers)
before Simon climbs through the window. So I added a scene that begins:
-->

Malcolm
Rannoch glanced up from his book and tilted his head back against the bronze
velvet of the Queen Anne chair.“There
was a time when I thought we’d never have a quiet night at home.”

Suzanne
Rannoch regarded her husband over the downy head of their almost-one-year-old
daughter, Jessica, who was flopped in her arms, industriously nursing. “There
was a time when I thought we’d never have a quiet night.”

His
gray eyes glinted in the candlelight. “Sweetheart, are you complaining of boredom?”

“You
mean do I miss outwitting foreign agents, getting summoned by the Duke of
Wellington and Lord Castlereagh at all hours, sitting up into the morning
decoding documents, dodging sniper fire, and taking the occasional knife to my
ribs?”Malcolm picked up the whisky glass on the
table beside him. “Something like that.”
Finally I felt I had a shape for the opening that balances action and character
revelation.

Writers, how do you approach openings/ Readers, what are the openings
of novels that you find particularly effe3ctive? is it action or
character that catches your attention?